The Light That Shines
by jayhogartismyangel
Summary: When Booth and Brennan investigate the crime scene of a man found dead and wrapped up in a rug,they are faced with an unusual suspect but as dark secrets come out,they are faced with the prospect of protecting her and her siblings.
1. Prologue

**The Light That Shines**

**Warning:Contains language,situations such as rape,violence,sexual situations.**

**Prologue**

_"Foster don't hurt her you sick bastard!" A girl of about sixteen cried out in protest her long,strawberry blonde hair swirling around her like a cloud as she wrapped protective arms around a tiny child of about six. Her big golden-hazel eyes glared up at the drunk,giant of a man before her with a detectable fire._

_"What did you say bitch?" Foster growled,his huge,meaty hand was raised infront of him as if he were about to hit her._

_"Lexi,go to your room with Sterling and hide. Take my ipod with you and put the headphones in your ears. Turn the music up full blast,and whatever you do,don't come out 'till I come and get you." The fifteen year old whispered into her sister's ear._

_Alexzandria nodded. "Okay Carrie." She said,running to her room and shutting the door,doing as her sister told her. Her almond colored pigtails flew behind her as she ran._

_A cruel smile flitted onto Foster's lips. He took a step forward and brought a hand up to rest on the strawberry blonde's cheek. "How sweet." He said,voice filled to the brim with mocking. You are so protective of your sister . Making her believe I am this big,bad,monster. But we all know you wanted it. We all know who the real whore is." His hand ran down the length of her long slender neck. _

_She trembled in fear at his touch,recoiling rather fast as if his touch burned. "You know I never wanted what you did. You know that your a monster. Nobody was there to stop you from hurting me,but I will be damned if I let you do what you have done to me to my little sister. I will be damned if you fuck her up." She turned around her fingers brushing over the lamp that sat on the table. She gripped it hard as Foster put his hands on her waist. Then,she gracefully whirled around and ripped the lamp from the wall,lifting it over her head as she slammed it hard across Foster's face. He fell to the floor and she knelt next to him. "So....who's the victim now? Who's the helpless one now?" Her voice was hard and cold as she said this. She climbed up to straddle his waist so he was unable to get away. Her hand reached in to the pocket of her form-fitting jeans as she pulled out a knife. She was finally taking her control back. He couldn't hurt her---or anyone anymore._

_--------------------_

"The victim has eight contusions,all look like knife wounds He looks to be around thirty five to fourty. Before he was killed,he was castarated. There was a blow to the face---he was obviously knocked down first. My guess is that the killer is smaller than him. Probably a female or a young male." Brennan said softly.

Booth stood by her side with his hands on his hips and a grimace on his face. "Who would do something like this?" He asked in shock.

She shrugged once. She had some ideas on why someone would do such a thing. All of them were rather disturbing. "We also need to find out where this old carpet came from. Hodgins can look at the dirt and bugs on it when we take it back to the lab."

And somewhere a few miles away,Cariad Macenzie Ryan was making her siblings,Alexzandria and Sterling breakfast unaware of what was happening.

Next Chapter:The "victim" is identified and Cariad is questioned and a startling discovery is made.


	2. Chapter One

**The Light That Shines**

**Chapter Two**

Brennan and Wendell studied the skeleton on the table carefully. Hodgins was in his station,looking at the rug for the particles of dust and any bugs. Angela was currently reconstructing the face. Booth meanwhile was standing off to the side,watching Bones and Wendell carefully. "There's still some...meat left on the bones. I'll have to have Cam look at it." Brennan said,not looking up.

Just then,Hodgins headed over to them with a smug grin on his lips. "The particulates on the rug were from a garden. Fertilizer. There were also maggots on the carpet.

"That would explain why there's still some meat on the bones. The maggots didn't have time to eat it all." Wendell said as he,Brennan,and Hodgins all looked at one another then to Booth.

Angela came up to them then with a drawing pad in her hands. "Hey guys? There's nothing totally disgusting up there,right?" She asked as she hesitantly walked up to them.

"What've got Angela?" Brennan asked as she took off her gloves and walked over to her friend and colleague,taking the drawing into her hands. The man in the picture had such cold eyes that it made her shudder.

"I've already checked and his name is Foster Malcom. Funny thing is, no one has even reported him missing. It's as if no one cared." Angela said her voice holding a sad note to it.

"Foster Malcom?" Booth said his voice filled with relization.

"Did you know him?" Brennan asked, looking up from the drawing in her hands to Booth who stood frozen in one spot, tense.

He shook his head from side to side. "Not really. All I know is that his stepdaughter, Cariad once accused him of sexual abuse. She was twelve or thirteen at the time and she had told the police it had been happening since her father died and her mother met Foster. She told police that it was just innappropriate touching until she hit twelve then it became worse. The case against Foster was dropped though."

"Weren't there rumors that it was dropped because of the reputation of the mother?" Wendell asked as he furrowed his blond brows.

"That and Cariad hated the fact that her mom was able to get over her dad so quickly." Angela mentioned.

"Well what if the accusations that Cariad made were true? Why didn't the police bother to look into it?" Brennan asked, feeling anger overwhelm her. "Why did they not believe her just because of her mother?"

"Because the police are idiots." Hodgins answered disdainfully.

"The mother disappeared a year ago and left her kids with Foster. Foster said that he'd keep them because all their blood relatives had died or were too sick to take in three kids. Plus, the youngest kid is actually Foster's. He's two." Booth said. "Perhaps we should go and talk to Cariad."

-----

Back at the house, Cariad sat on the couch with Sterling and Alexzandria on either side of her. They were watching cartoons and eating their lunch of tuna sandwiches,apple slices with caramel dipping sauce,and chocolate milk.

"Momma, I feel sleepy." Sterling said as he lifted his small fist and rubbed at his hazel colored eyes. His strawberry blond locks were a messy mop on his head as he burrowed into Cariad's side. Just then a knock sounded on the door.

Cariad put an arm around Sterling and then turned to her sister. "Could you please answer the door for me Lexi?" She asked.

"Okay!" Lexi said nodding as she ran to the door, her brown curls bouncing around her. She pulled the door open swiftly and stared with curious grey eyes. "Who are you?" She asked in a small voice, still staring up at them.

"Alexzandria, whoever it is please be polite and allow them to come in. It may be summer but it looks like it will rain soon." A voice called from the living room.

"Thanks." Booth said, resting his hand on the small of Brennan's back as they stepped inside. Then he turned and knelt down infront of Alexzandria. "And I'm Booth. I'm an FBI agent and this is my partner Temperance Brennan."

"Can I see your badge?" Alexzandria asked Booth, reaching a small hand out.

"Sure." Booth said with a smile on his lips, handing it to her as he and Bones followed her into the living room.

Cariad looked up from her seat on the couch. Her eyes widened and her hand stopped it's motion in Sterling's hair as her mouth set itself into a frown that quickly replaced itself with a friendly smile as her eyes settled on Brennan. "Temperance Brennan." She stated softly, name rolling off of her tongue. "I love your books."

Brennan smiled. "Thank you." She said, reminding herself that this girl was a suspect.

"Why don't you two take a seat while I take Sterling to his room for his nap?" Cariad asked as she stood and scooped the little boy up in her arms, his small arms hung down and his head rested against her chest as she took Sterling to his bedroom down the hall.

"Are you here about Foster?" Alexzandria asked once her sister had disappeared down the hallway.

Booth frowned as he leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "How did you know that?" He asked as the little girl skipped over to sit in between he and Brennan.

"He's been gone for four days. It's been alot better here since then. Quieter, less scary." Lexi said as she ran her fingertips over the name on the badge.

"Did Foster ever hurt you?" Brennan asked gently.

Alexzandria shook her head. "No. Carrie always protected me. But he hurt her. Sometimes I'd wake up and see Foster leaving her room and I'd go to her room and she'd be crying. I'd get into the bed beside her and wrap my arms around her so she'd stop." The little girl's eyes flickered up to Brennan's face, a haunted look behind those irises.

Just then, Cariad entered the room once more. "Hey Lexi, how about you go to your room and play while I talk to these nice people." She said, leaning in to give her sister a kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Okay!" Lexi said, jumping off the couch and wrapping her little arms around her sister's knees. "I love you Carrie!"

-------

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth. Me and my partner are here to ask you some questions." Booth said as he flashed his badge.

Cariad curled up into the recliner and studied Brennan and Booth. "I suppose your here about Foster." She said flatly, eyes darkening with hatred as she spoke his name.

"I take it you didn't like Foster." Booth said, looking at Cariad carefully.

The teenage girl's golden-hazel eyes flared with an intense fire as they narrowed. "What was your first clue?" She snarled, pretty face twisting into a scowl. "With all do respect, why does he matter so much? When I went to the police about what he did to me no one cared! They never even checked into it. They just wrote it off like I was lying. I even told them about the tapes but they never checked it out!" She stood up and stalked out of the room, coming back moments later with a book in her hand that she tossed into Brennan's lap non-cermoniously. "You wanna know why someone would kill him? Read my diary from when he first started doing what he did and keep reading. If he was doing it to me, there were probably other girls who he hurt as well. I suggest you get to know your 'victim.' " With that, Cariad hurried from the room, slamming a door behind her and leaving Brennan and Booth alone in the silence of the small living room.

"What do we do now?" Brennan asked.

Booth shook his head. "Find the proof on who killed him."

"People like him don't deserve to breathe." Brennan growled, crossing her arms over her chest. People like Foster Malcom were the whole reason she believed in the death penalty.

--------

Brennan sat on the couch in her office, curled up with the diary in her hands. Her fingers ran over the weathered jacket and over the words written on it before she opened up to see equally weathered pages, pages that were beginning to turn yellow with age.

The words written on the pages made her hands shake. Especially when she got to the thirtieth page that was dated, April 4th, 2006. When Cariad was twelve. She let out a gasp of shock when she saw the words written there.

_He did it again. I told mom but she doesn't believe me and Lexi is too young to understand. The neighbor boy, Danny is only fourteen and he believed me and wanted to run away with me but I can't do that. My little sister needs me. Mother isn't a mom to her and she can't be alone in this house where he can hurt her. I'd never be able to forgive myself. I've been sick for days now. Vomiting and dizzy spells. I don't know what's wrong at all. _

_I'm thinking of going to the police about it. Hopefully they'll listen to me. I don't know how much longer I can take it. I can't even look at myself naked anymore because I'm afraid of what I'll see._

_Foster tells me that no one would want someone so irrevociably damaged as I am for anything more than my body. When Danny looks at me, that doesn't seem true....._

Brennan stopped reading and lowered the book and stared off in space as Angela walked into the room.

'

"Hey Sweetie." She said as she handed her friend a cup of tea. "Booth told me you would be in here. You reading the girl's diary?"

Brennan nodded as she handed the open diary to her friend. "I think that Cariad was pregnant almost three years ago."

Angela blanched. "Oh my god!"

"When we went there to talk to her, she had a little boy around two sleeping against her. She called him Sterling and he had her hair color and her skin tone."

"So Sterling is most likely her kid." Angela said in disbelief as she threw the diary onto the table.

Brennan could only nod as Booth walked into the room.

"Did you find out anything new about our case Bones?" He asked as he walked into the room.

Brennan and Angela exchanged an uneasy look before Brennan finally replied with a nod. "I read her diary. It's fairly disturbing. As an anthropoligist and with everything I've witnessed on my digs and everything I've seen I didn't think anything could shock me anymore. I guess I was wrong."

Booth raised an eyebrow and reached for the diary in his friend and partner's outstretched hand. His face got paler and paler as he read and his mouth set into a thin line as his brown eyes hardened. "My god, she had a kid. And this girl had a way out but she didn't take it because she had to protect her sister. Who knows how many times he hurt her after her mother abandoned those kids."

"You know, I almost don't want to help solve this case. I think that Cariad had a point. No one was there for her and no one listened to her when she told them what was happening to her. Instead they diregarded it as if it was something she said for attention and her own mother abandoned her and Alexzandria when they were sleeping and when Cariad told her what he was doing. It's understandable why she'd go so far as to kill him." Angela stated.

"Well we don't have proof that she killed him yet. We have to wait for more facts and evidence." Brennan said, looking between Booth and Angela who exchanged a look.

"Sweetie, you have to admit that the girl had a motive. I mean, I'm not saying she did it but I don't really blame her if she did." The forensic artist said before she turned and left the room to go talk to Cam.

-------

Seventeen year old, Daniel Andrews wrapped Cariad in a hug later that night, letting her rest her head on his shoulder as he ran long, calloused fingers through her hair. "It's okay Cariad. Everything will be fine."

"How can you say that Daniel?" Her head lifted from his shoulder and he could see the strands of strawberry blond hair clinging to her wet, tearstained face. Her eyes shimmered with sparkling tears. "Their investigating his death and they don't give a _damn _about how horrible he was!" Her tiny fist grasped tightly to his jacket as she stared up at him.

"Then we'll make them listen Care Bear. There is no way you are going to jail for ridding the world of someone so disgusting."

And with that, Cariad fell asleep with her head on his shoulder as they sat on the couch.

Daniel meanwhile, prayed to himself that he'd be able to protect Cariad and Sterling and Alexzandria like he couldn't before.

**Next Chapter: Evidence surfaces and Cariad is brought in for questioning, Daniel runs in to interrupt the interrogation. Alexzandria tells Sweets what happened the night Foster was killed. Booth and Brennan discover the tapes.**


	3. Chapter Two

**The Light That Shines**

**Chapter Two**

Cariad awakened early the next morning, on the couch. A blue and gray striped blanket was covering her lithe form. Her sleepy eyes studied the room. She could hear a commotion coming from the kitchen just down the hall. She sat up and swung her legs off the couch, letting the blanket fall to the floor as she rubbed her eyes and stood.

Her feet padded against the hardwood floor as she walked down the hall and into the kitchen. Music was blaring from the radio on the counter next to the sink--the one she listened to everyday when she washed dishes, cleaned up, made desserts and fixed meals. Her lips curved in amusement at the sight that met her as she stood in the doorway to the kitchen. Daniel was dancing around the kitchen with a giggling Lexi in his arms. He held a wooden spoon up to their mouths as they sung to a song on Radio Disney. Sterling stood by the table, staring at them with wide eyes.

Her son smiled when he saw her and she knelt down with a finger to her lips telling him to be quiet as he ran to her and she scooped him up into her arms. They watched silently as Daniel held up Lexi so she could stir whatever was in the bowl infront of them. Finally, Cariad couldn't contain it anymore and for the first time in a long time, she laughed.

Daniel froze. Cariad could see the tension in his back as he finally moved to set Alexzandria to her feet. The little girl and the teenage boy turned in unison torwards the doorway to see Cariad leaning against it. Daniel's face became flushed with embarrassement as he lowered the spoon and ducked his head. "How long have you been standing there?" He whispered softly. This was pretty embarrassing. It wasn't exactly everyday you were caught singing, "If We Were a Movie" by the girl you were secretly in love with.

She gave him a bashful grin as she walked over and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Don't be embarrassed. I like how sweet you are with my sister. Most guys probably wouldn't let her blast Hannah Montana and sing with her. By the way, what are you making anyway?"

He let go of her and smiled sheepishly. "Chocolate chip pancakes. I figured you could use a special treat after yesterday."

The corners of Cariad's lips turned down as she recalled Temperance Brennan's and Seeley Booth's visit yesterday. It had hurt her to hear the world famous anthropoligist and writer and the handsome FBI agents investigate the death of a monster when the abuse he had forced upon her had went uninvestigated by the police despite her pleas for them to listen to her.

Danny sighed before pulling her close and letting her sob into his shoulder. As he lowered them both to the ground so he could lean against the bottom cabinets with her on his lap, he was grateful that Lexi and Sterling had went into the living room to watch television. He knew that Cariad wouldn't want her sister and her son to see her like this.

------

Bones was again hanging over the exam table,studying the skull of Foster Malcolm. Cam, Hodgins, and Wendell flanked either side of her. Booth knew that this time, they were reluctant to solve the case. A case that could very well send an innocent teenage girl to jail and her sister and son to foster care. Booth didn't know what foster care was like but he knew that Brennan and Sweets both did and he knew neither one of their experiences had been pleasant. The only reason they hadn't been sent into the system yet was because Booth had yet to tell the Bureau that Cariad, Sterling, and Lexi were underage and that there was no other legal guardian. He'd tried but he couldn't do it. The eyes of Cariad Ryan haunted him just as he was sure they haunted Bones. The partners had seen the love Cariad had for her sister and the love the teen had for Sterling. They had seen the adoration in Alexzandria's eyes as she told her older sister that she loved her before scampering off to her room. Instead of thinking like an agent, he'd thought like the father he was and had done something that could very well cost him his job.

He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't hear Angela come up by him. He did hear the soft cry that emitted from Bones' lips. It sounded like a wounded animal, inhuman and he knew whatever it was that caused it could not be good. He walked over to put a hand on the small of Bones' back.

Brennan turned to him and her blue eyes shone with emotion as she said, "We're going to have to bring in Cariad to interrogate her. There was a strand of hair on the rug that matched Cariad's DNA perfectly."

Booth has to strain to hear her. She was speaking so quietly as if she didn't want to be heard, but he'd heard it and couldn't help but wish he hadn't and as he looked upon the faces of Angela, Wendell, Cam, and Hodgins, he knew they felt the same.

-------

Cariad was dancing in the local gym that day. Ballet. Fifteen little girls and four little boys including Lexi and Sterling watched her and tried to copy her moves. Her eyes were closed as she leaped and twirled. Her hair pulled into an elegant bun with a wisp of it hanging to frame her face. When she danced she felt innocent, untouched,_ free, _although she was none of those things, Foster had made sure of that the first time he touched her. It was a way to escape at least.

The children watched their ballet teacher in awe. She had such grace when she danced, utterly flawless and looked like one of those fairytale princesses in the stories their parents read to them.

None of the people noticed Booth and Brennan walk in. That was until Booth put a light hand on Cariad's arm causing her to turn to face the person who interrupted her. Her eyes widened and she watched as a woman came in and picked up a now screaming Lexi at the gesture Booth gave. A man with a curly mop of light brown hair and piercing blue eyes followed and picked up Sterling. Cariad knew exactly who they were. They'd been in the newspaper plenty of times with stories of the Jeffersonian. They were Angela Montenegro and Jack Hodgins.

--------

Twenty minutes later, Brennan and Booth sat in the interrogation room, staring across the table at Cariad. Angela and Hodgins both sat just outside the room with Sterling and Lexi. Sweets, they knew was watching the interrogation.

Cariad's eyes were settled on the table top, her slender fingers drawing invisible patterns on it.

"We found evidence on the rug that you were around when....Foster died." Booth swallowed hard.

Cariad finally looked up, locking eyes with Booth. "That doesn't mean that I killed him Agent Booth. For all you know, that hair could've been on that rug for ages." Her voice was calm, not really letting any emotion come through---except for the way her eyes widened and her lips parted before she spoke.

"Somehow I doubt that the football rug was yours. You don't seem like the type that would have that sort of rug lying around and it wouldn't exactly match the decor to your living room. Which must mean that there was someone else with you. The rug must've belonged to another person." Booth told her carefully, studying her features.

Her breath caught in her throat and she looked between Brennan and Booth before she opened her mouth to speak. She couldn't let them know that Daniel had helped her get rid of the body. She couldn't let him get in trouble for what she'd done. But she couldn't exactly let them know that she'd committed the murder either. She'd end up in juvie or jail and Alexzandria and Sterling would end up in foster care.

------

Outside the interrogation room, Alexzandria put down the drawing she'd been working on as well as all the markers on her lap. She jumped from the chair, looking back to see Hodgins and Angela absored in helping Sterling color. Her eyes landed on the tall lanky man who stood at the big window, staring through and she walked over to him. Her tiny hand grasped the edge of the suit jacket he wore and lightly tugged.

Sweets, who had been watching the interrogation closely, felt the tug on his jacket and turned his head and looked down to see the little girl that had been drawing with Angela and Hodgins at his side, staring up at him with grey eyes. He knelt down to his knees when Lexi crooked her finger at him. "Hey." He said, trying to smile through his nervousness. He'd never really talked to children except for that time Booth's son, Parker had found a human finger in a bird's nest at the park.

"Angela says you're a psycho." The little girl said innocently, lightly swaying as she clasped her small hands and looked at Sweets.

He had to laugh at the little girl's words. "You mean psychologist?" He asked of the six year old. "If so she is wickedly correct."

Alexzandria studied him closely. "My sister told me a psycho's job was to help people." She told him, completely disreguarding everything that he'd said.

"Yeah. It is." Sweets told her, exasperated. Knowing there was no way to get her to stop saying psycho a word who's definition was so totally different from the definition of a psychologist.

She leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I know why Foster disappeared."

He looked at her, startled as Lexi began to whisper to him what had happened.

-------

Daniel Andrews burst through the door before anyone could stop him. He charged to the door leading to the interrogation room and could hear the others in the room telling him not to go in and interrupt as they desperately tried to keep the two kids in the room from running to him. He didn't listen as he swung the door open loudly and hurried inside just as Cariad began to speak.

Three pairs of eyes turned torward the interruption.

"Danny!" Cariad said with wide eyes as Daniel raced over to the table to embrace her.

"I did it. I killed Foster." Daniel lied. He supposed it was true what they said about doing anything to protect the person you loved even if it hurt you in the end.

**Next Chapter: Sweets thinks of what Lexi told him. Daniel concocts a story about killing Foster. Brennan and Booth interrogate Cariad and Daniel seperately and Brennan tells Cariad a secret that she had kept for years about something that happened in foster care while Booth ask Daniel how long he's been in love with Cariad to be willing to lie for her.**


End file.
